In praise of Autumn leaves

When the temperatures plummeted to just above freezing point last week, the contrast with the glorious weather we were treated to earlier this month couldn't have been greater. 

Indeed, it almost beggars belief that at some point the mercury effortlessly climbed to 18°C. It seemed that the weather gods, who are usually up to no good when we've got plans, had taken pity on us for once! 

Still, we kept a close watch on the weather forecast, as the weekend before our little trip to Bruges was a bit of a wet one.

Take Saturday the 1st of November for starters! Even if the the day's highs of 14°C weren't too bad for the time of year, it was gloomy and wet, which is typical for All Saints Day in Belgium.

I had a lazy morning, getting dressed late-ish. In fact, I'd just finished putting the finishing touches to my outfit when our neighbours Wes and Michèle came around for final cat-sitting instructions.

With everything closed due to the public holiday, a rummage at the charity shops was out of the question, so I spent my time being a domestic goddess  dusting and vacuuming, after which I lounged on the sofa with my current read.

I was mindlessly flicking through the mind-numbing programmes on offer on the telly that evening - we are old-fashioned and don't do streaming - when I happened upon the first episode of The One That Got Away on one of our national channels. The six-part series, which is an English-language adaptation of the Welsh-language drama Cleddau, features Richard Harrington, who played the starring role in Hinterland, as DS Rick Sheldon. Having holidayed in Pembrokeshire for many years and been to Cleddau woods, I was instantly hooked.

Although Sunday had a sunny start, an encroaching army of clouds pregnant with rain put a stop to     all that from early afternoon onwards.

More household chores were ticked off the never-ending list, but my diary insists that I went on a jolly to blogland as well. 

I was working only one and a half days that week, taking Tuesday afternoon off for packing, tying up some loose ends and publishing a blog post. In the meantime, the rainclouds had departed elsewhere to make way for plenty of sunny spells and temperatures of up to 16°C.

The mercury had climbed to summery highs of 18°C on Wednesday. Our car's thermometer even briefly registered 20°C while we were driving towards our destination. 

The beauty of spending a short break close to home - our B&B in Beernem being just 100 kilometers or a one-hour drive from Dove Cottage - is that one has all the time in the world to get there. And so it was that we set off after lunch to arrive at B&B Het Soetewater shortly after 2 pm. 

This was our ninth visit to this wonderful B&B, our last one dating from April 2024 as we had to cancel our last two bookings due to Jos's health problems. Nevertheless, it felt as if we'd only been there yesterday. We were welcomed with open arms - and coffee! - by our host, Veronique and, after catching up on the latest family and other news, we made our way towards our room in the annex.

We've been staying in this luxury room, equipped with a king-size bed and a bathroom at least twice the size of Dove Cottage's, complete with huge walk-in shower and whirlpool bath, since our visit in August  2021, and haven't looked back since. However lovely the other rooms are, we truly enjoy the peace and quiet offered by this room away from the main B&B, our only neighbours being the horses in the stable at the front and a meadow full of sheep at the back.

The rooms are all named after sweets: Nougat, Caramel, Cuberdon - a typical Belgian delicacy - and ... Chocola(te). The last one was ours and as you can see, I'd brought matching literature!

We still had plenty of time left for an outing, particularly one which is only five minutes up the road.

Provincial domain Bulskampveld is part of a large landscape park with a size of 900 hectares of which 230 hectares of forest. It's even got its own numbered walking map! 

We left our car in the main car park, where it soon became evident that we weren't the only ones taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather to go for a walk. There were lots of children too, as it was Wednesday and schools were out for the afternoon. 

We did our best to avoid the hubbub as much as possible by keeping away from the main paths.

The gateway to the domain and nature reserve is the visitor centre located in a neo-Gothic style castle dating from 1887. The castle park is laid out in the inevitable English landscape style, offering glimpses of the castle across the lake.

Due to the lateness of the hour - it was well past 3 pm by now - we were only here for a short stroll and a taste of those Autumnal delights.  There were plenty of opportunities to indulge in my favourite pastime of leaf kicking! 

There are several wooden adventure platforms and play huts to entertain and educate youngsters like ourselves. Apart from anything else, they are perfect for hanging up one's coat when taking outfit photos!

I was wearing my rust coloured vintage St. Michael skirt again, this time combined with a charity shopped blouse by the Belgian Who's That Girl label and one of my King Louie cardigans. The latter, as well as my belt, necklace, ring and brooch - which somewhat disappears into the blouse's pattern here - were charity shop finds too.

Established in 1980 on the site of the castle's former kitchen garden is a herb garden which boasts 400 or so species of medicinal and kitchen herbs. In spite of being well past its sell-by date at this time of year, things were still looking relatively green and lush, although obviously nothing compared to the wild exuberance of the garden basking in the heat of an August afternoon on our visit back in 2021.

See here, here and here.

And then there was a shed full of ghosts, which was very apt indeed just a couple of days after Hallowe'en :-)

By then the sun was playing hide-and-seek with the clouds. At one point it looked as if  rain was imminent but thankfully nothing came of it. It just made the gloaming descend on us a bit earlier than expected. 

As we were walking back to the car park, we were distracted by the sight of a folly in the woods. 

Erected in 1920, this is a Chapel of Thanksgiving to Our Lady in recognition for the protection of the inhabitants of the village in general and the Lippens family - then owners of the castle - in particular during the First World War.

Last time we were here, a tall plaster statue of Mary perched on a pedestal could be glimpsed through its window. The one you can see here isn't the real thing but a picture as the chapel is currently being restored.

Back at the B&B, we made ourselves comfortable and we might even have caught forty winks. That is, until our faintly rumbling stomachs reminded us of the fact that one of Veronique's famous tapas boards was waiting for us in the fridge.

So we left the cozy confines of our room and made our way towards the main B&B. 

That's the kitchen behind the window to the left of the photo on the top left, while straight ahead is the breakfast room.

I just love Veronique's attention to detail! Instead of disposable paper napkins, we got these gorgeous embroidered linen ones.

There was more than enough for our second night as well, we just bought some rolls on our way back from Bruges the next day.

Speaking of Bruges, as I guess some of you might be wondering, it's only a stone's throw and a 20-minute drive on secondary roads from here.

We ended our first day with a long soak in the whirlpool bath, after which we soon drifted off to the Land of Nod.

Do stay tuned for the second installment of my travelogue in which I'm finally taking you to the fairy-tale city of Bruges!

Say sneeze!

I came back from our little sojourn in Bruges bearing the gift of a common cold. We'd barely made it through our front door when I felt a telltale tickle in my throat, soon followed by sneezing, an alternately blocked and leaking nose and an annoying and persistent little cough. It didn't exactly help that that weather had reverted to its default gloom and that - no rest for the wicked - I was expected back at the office on Monday (the 10th of November, that is).

What's more, my cold turned out to be the unwanted gift which keeps on giving, as it's only just on its way out as I type, having rapidly depleted the solar-powered energy I'd built up while we were away. 

So forgive me if I'm little behind with commenting on your posts and if I'm rushing somewhat through my final October catch-up!

Looking into the time machine's rearview mirror, it dawns on me that I hadn't even finished telling you about October's penultimate weekend.

Sunday the 19th of October turned out to be mostly cloudy, with some short-lived but very welcome sunny spells in the afternoon, and highs of round 15°C.

My rust coloured slubbed skirt is vintage St. Michael and part of a suit, its short-sleeved belted jacket remaining largely unworn. I found it at Think Twice back in 2018, and here's a rare sighting of the two pieces together. Its companion that Sunday was a groovily patterned blouse by Belgian label Claude Arielle, charity shopped in December 2023.

Accessories:

Suede mustard yellow belt: CKS outlet shop, October 2022

Mustard yellow beads: charity find a couple of months ago

Spider brooch: indoor flea market, May 2025

As random patches of blue had appeared in the sky, we donned our coats - mine a vintage wool and polyester blend burgundy jacket - and drove down to Middelheim sculpture park for a stroll.

We parked near the so-called Artist's Entrance (above, top left), created by Dutch artist John Körmeling in 2012. Walking across the open terrain towards the main part of the park, I couldn't resist a turn on the swings. I'm sure it won't surprise you that this too is a work of art, called One Two Three Swing!, a creation of the Danish collective SUPERFLEX, founded in Copenhagen in 1993.

 

The wobbly tower of chairs (above, top left) is part of the Prank series by British visual artist Phyllida Barlow (1944-2023). The series was completed just before her death in 2023 and consists of seven sculptures of precariously stacked furniture and studio objects, all having funny white rabbit ears as a recurring motif. 

Pull up a chair to watch Paul Kindersley's The Dreamer of the Forest (2024), in which images from the Middelheim collection come to life (above, bottom left).

We didn't linger, but walked into the direction of the Braem Pavillion (above, top left), the Organic Brutalist marvel designed by architect Renaat Braem (1910-2001) and completed in 1971. 

After having been absent during the park's reshuffle, we were happy to meet up with Yayoi (above, bottom right) by New York based artist Corey McCorkle (°1969) again. The large reflective sphere is based on the stone spheres used as ornaments along paths in 17th Century French gardens. But this behemoth does not blend into its setting. Corey McCorkle likes to present objects in unexpected ways, changing our experience of space.

Cosmic Eye, dating from 1973, was originally designed by Belgian artist Jan Dries (1925-2014) for Antwerp's metro station Groenplaats, where it took pride of place for 35 years. I must walked past it  countless of times over the years.

At Middelheim, it turned out to be the perfect photo frame. I was in awe of the tiny chestnut somebody had balance on one of the inside ridges.

We're skipping Monday to arrive at Tuesday the 21st of October, which brought a mix of clouds and showers. I'd taken the day off to accompany Jos to his hospital check-up which, as I'd already hinted a couple of posts ago, couldn't have gone better. Onwards and upwards from now on!

The off-white and bottle green checked wool-blend skirt, which is by River Woods, was charity shopped in October 2022 and is an absolute joy to wear. I mean, it even has pockets!

Everything else I was wearing - including my burgundy ankle boots and the bottle green mock croc belt - was provided by the gods of the charity shops as well.

Afterwards, we celebrated Jos's clean bill of health with mugs of cappuccino and some very indulgent cakes at the excellent hospital cafeteria.

 For once, I didn't have to remind Jos to look happy when I was taking his photo ...

It was back to the office to catch up on work on Wednesday, but I managed to escape during my lunch break, walking to a Think Twice shop - there are no less than five of them in Antwerp - a bit further away for a browse. 

Tell me, how could I have said no to this pink floral cord maxi skirt?

The weather had turned quite stormy on Thursday, with the temperature steadily going down from 16°C until we were barely into double digits.

By Friday, the mercury had taken up residence around 10°C, which felt even chillier courtesy of a blustery wind. To counterbalance the chill, there were lots of sunny spells to accompany me on my way to my hairdresser's for a cut and colour.

Sad news, though, as Michel told me the salon will close for good at the end of year ... 

My vintage Diolen dress - found at T2 in January 2023 - was dubbed the Tardis dress by Kezzie when we met up in Bruges a couple of weeks later. Nearly three years ago already! Where does the time go?

Incidentally, the orange painted metal flower brooch I pinned to the dress was a gift from Kezzie back then. My necklace came from a Welsh antiques shop and the orange fabric belt belongs to one of my short-sleeved vintage frocks.

More orange featured in the accessories of Saturday's outfit, tying in with the orange flowers in my black floral velvet skirt, which I picked up from Think Twice last year. It was paired with a charity shopped InWear blouse. The suede belt which separates them is the only item which I bought brand new on the high street.

It was a grey day with lots of rain and, again, highs of around 10°C.

The inclement weather kept us inside Dove Cottage, where I continued with my wardrobe changeover and cleaned the bathroom, while Jos made a batch of delicious tomato-paprika soup. Then we changed the light bulbs in the bedroom chandelier, as half of them had given up the ghost. Finally, we made pasta in the oven for dinner, after which I caught up with blogland. That was my day in a nutshell!

As we'd put the clocks back that night, we had an extra hour of lying in on Sunday. The sun was shining brightly as we were having croissants for breakfast, but at just 7°C we needed to dress warmly for our outing to Middelheim for a walk followed by a drink with Inneke and Maurice.

We were too busy chatting so the above is the one and only photo I took.

I'd decided to give my new-to-me pink floral cord maxi skirt its first outing, combining it with a green patterned jumper. The latter, as well as all my accessories were charity shop or flea market finds. 

We're skipping a couple of days again, to Tuesday the 28th of October. The weather was another mix of grey skies, heavy showers and the odd sunny spell, with the mercury only managing to climb to 11°C.

I had errand to run during lunch break and popped into the nearest Think Twice shop to my office on my way back. The shops were having another one of their famous sales, with prices down to € 6 that day. This funky floral velvet top came home with me.

Thursday's lunch break walk took me into the direction of Melting Pot - the vintage-per-kilo shop - where a rummage of the rails yielded this olive green polyester knit vintage dress.

I know it looks more grey than green here, as my camera refused to catch its true colour.

I'm leaving you now with the outfit I wore on Friday the 31st of October.

My navy-based tartan maxi skirt came from an outlet shop for the Belgian Green Ice label near my office, where I bought it in September 2023.

The blouse, which is by yet another Belgian label, Who's That Girl, was a charity shop find earlier this year. The green Dralon cardigan was a € 4 Think Twice sales bargain back in the mist of time.

As for my accessories, they are a mix of high street and second-hand finds.

With October now finally over and done with, I'm champing at the bit to make a start with my Bruges travelogue. 

Hope to see you again soon!

My job is very boring, I'm an office clerk

No, you don't have to thank me for the earworm! 

Actually, I've been wanting to use this snippet from Martha and the Muffins' Echo Beach as a post title ever since I started my blog back in March 2016.  I never got around to it though as, frankly speaking, my job isn't in the least bit boring, even if I often moan about its trials and tribulations. And nor, generally speaking, is my life! It's just that lately not much has been happening in it, with one working week segueing seamlessly into another, so that once again my post will be mainly about the outfits I've been wearing. 

In the meantime, we have been to Bruges and back, which means I've got a couple of travel posts up my sleeve. However, as these trips back and forth in the time machine are doing my head in, I thought I'd save these for later and continue posting about October until I've caught up instead.

We slept late-ish on Friday the 10th of October, waking up to sunny spells which soon made way for a gloomy grey sky which would remain with us for the rest of the day.

With the day's highs of around 17°C, I could still get away with wearing one of my lighter and unlined long-sleeved dresses. It was plucked from the Think Twice rails, where it had been hanging for all of 30 seconds,  back in October 2019. While I was browsing, I'd noticed the shop assistant hanging it up and, having seen a flash of its fabric out of the corner of my eye, I went over to investigate. As it is clearly handmade, it didn't have any labels whatsoever but, as luck would have it, it was exactly my size. 

I picked up the colour of its buttons and green hexagons of its pattern with my belt and opaques and paid tribute to its burnt orange hexagons with my beaded necklace and Autumn leaf brooch.

I pottered upstairs, switching over some skirts, in the morning, then after lunch we drove down to the massive three floor charity shop in nearby Duffel.

A maxi dress from high street shop LolaLiza, green King Louie cardigan, and grey-ish green chunky knit H&M cardigan ended up in my cart. Oh, and two pairs of opaques, in honey and burnt orange, for € 0,50 each!

Back at home I continued with the changeover, putting away the last of the sandals and reacquainting myself with the bulk of my boots! 

Saturday was another gloomy but warm day on which the mercury climbed to 18°C. As it looked set to remain dry, we decided to bite the bullet and go for that long-overdue leaf-kicking walk in the afternoon.

Our destination of choice was Walenhoek, a nature reserve about 10 kilometers from Dove Cottage, in the village of Niel. 

Walenhoek is one of several local nature reserves established on former clay pits, which were reclaimed by the forces of nature after the industry's decline in the late 1970s. There's still the odd relic from the past hidden among the wilderness which seem to have crumbled away a bit more with each visit.

The perfect place for a bracing walk whatever the season, we have been coming here on and off  for many years. The off-times were when the place was inundated with illegal fishermen who'd set up their tents at the edge of the reserve's plethora of ponds. Case in point was the last time we walked here back in March 2024.

Much to our relief, we didn't spot any of them this time around, although back at the car park we came across one who was putting a cart full of professional looking fishing gear into his van. 

My red and grey tartan circle skirt - with pockets! - was charity shopped a couple of years ago.

It was joined by another charity shop find, a vintage blouse with a Jugendstil-influenced pattern, found in November 2022.

In fact, I think that the majority of my outfit - including my super comfy crepe soled Mephisto boots - were charity shop finds, except for perhaps the brooch, which I suspect was picked up at the indoor flea market.

Our wanderings took us to one my favourite parts of the reserve, a fairy tale-like wooded area between two ponds. Here, we delighted in the the crunch of the layers of leaves under our feet, the earthy  fragrance typical of Autumn adding to the sensory delights of the season.

We spotted this graceful pair of swans towards the end of the walk and I surreptitiously stalked them until they'd emerged from among the reeds and were gliding in open water, which was gently rippling their reflections.

We caught up on chores on Sunday, after which I changed into the outfit I would repeat on Monday.

The dress I'd pulled from my wardrobe was a petrol blue retro print King Louie I charity shopped back in April. The cropped cardigan with its elbow length sleeves is by Zoë Loveborn, a label which used to be sold in a Belgian chain of high street shops called LolaLiza. Although it doesn't seem to be in existence any  longer, I keep finding their often quirky, retro style clothes in the charity shops all the time.

My matching opaques were a sales bargain and the burgundy boots yet another charity shop find.

I met up with Inez for our weekly cappuccino-fuelled catch-up on Monday. 

She'd already done the rounds of the rails before I arrived and in passing mentioned that she'd seen a lovely green handbag. 

It completely slipped our minds to go and have a proper look at it, but I suddenly remembered it as I was on my way back to the office during Tuesday's lunch break. As I still had some time to spare I decided to check it out.

There it was, calling me from afar the minute I set foot inside the shop. Walking into its direction, I was just a couple of meters away from the handbag display when someone else beat me to it. The girl in question swiftly unhooked the bag from the display, opened it, sniffed it, and draped it over her arm. Damn! I hung around for a while, mindlessly rummaging through a rail of blouses in case she'd change her mind. But then she walked into the main part of the shop with the green bag still on her arm.

A couple of minutes later, I saw her again in front of one of the fitting room mirrors. She was still studying the bag intently, opening it and sniffing it again. Decision apparently made, she then proceeded to walk into the direction of the till ... but taking a right turn instead of left towards the till.  Feeling like a proper Miss Marple, I surreptitiously followed in her footsteps and, rounding the corner, noticed that she'd hung it back on the rails. Obviously I didn't waste another minute and grabbed it as by that time I needed to have it, no matter what. And yes, I did open and sniff it, and it turned out to be perfectly alright!

On Thursday, I layered yet another charity shopped red Zoë Loveborn cardigan - with full length sleeves this time - over a dress I found at Think Twice before my blog was even a twinkle in my eye. With its pussy-bow and its trellis-like pattern upon which tiny white, red-hearted flowers are growing, it's been a long-time Autumn and Winter favourite.

You can find a close-up of its pattern here. Funnily enough, I was wearing the exact same brooch back then. I'm such a creature of habit!

It had been quite gloomy all week, with the temperature gradually going down from 17 to 15°C. Thankfully, it hadn't been overly busy at work, even if there were a couple of issues which needed my full attention.

My lunch time diversion on Thursday took me to Melting Pot, the vintage per kilo shop, again. And again, I was in luck, finding two vintage dresses.

I'm loving the simplicity of this denim blue poly-blend knit with its chevron-striped neckline and collar.

You'll get to see the second dress I found in a minute.

As my colleague was on holiday, I needed to go in for a couple of hours on Friday the 17th of October.

I was wearing a vintage chevron striped wool skirt in black, brown, white and bluish grey. I fell head over heels with it at Think Twice in October 2020. I almost did a double take when I was reading Sheila's post that day and saw that she was wearing a maxi skirt with a very similar pattern. It's in this post of hers!

My blouse is Zara by way of a charity shop. The squishy stag's head brooch I pinned to it was a charity shop find as well, and so was my belt. The necklace came from the indoor flea market.

My well-worn chocolate brown boots - which were found on the high street a couple of years ago - have been working overtime. They were definitely made for walking as they even came to Bruges with me!

Bess: Aren't you bored yet?  I know I am! What about joining me for a nap? 

Me: In a minute, Bess, I've still got to show them the other dress I found at Melting Pot!

And here it is! This flower-infused Diolen Delight made my heart sing! 

I wore it with a pair of purple opaques and the purple Western-style ankle boots I scored in a pop-up shop near my office last December.

Both my necklace and stretchy belt were high street finds while my brooch, which I picked for its purple background as well as to add some more flowers into the mix, was another one which found its origins on the indoor flea market.

I will be back with a final October catch-up soon as I can't wait to tell you about our Bruges adventures!

See you soon!